Framing Human Trafficking: A Content Analysis of Recent U.S. Newspaper Articles

Abstract

The news media can play a significant role in shaping public perceptions of social problems. One of these, human trafficking, has attracted increasing media attention since the early 2000s. This article builds on earlier work with a content analysis of articles on human trafficking published in the New York Times and the Washington Post during 2012-2013. In order to identify both continuities and changes in reporting over time, we replicate and expand on a study of the 1980-2006 time period, in addition to analyzing additional factors not examined in the previous study. In addition to documenting a sharply increasing amount of coverage compared to earlier years, we examine the ways in which trafficking is defined and framed, the types of sources relied on in the articles, the types of victims that received the most attention, and other important features. We document key similarities and differences over time in reporting on human trafficking.

Representations of Transnational Human Trafficking: A Critical Review

“…Wylie (2016) instead identifies the Palermo Protocol as part of the lifecycle. This increase in reporting would, initially, appear to be a positive development, as the public's and (untrained) practitioners' understanding of what HT is, and who the victims are, is dependent on media representations (De Shalit, Heynen, & Van der Meulen, 2014;Denton, 2010;Farrell & Fahy, 2009;Papadouka, Evangelopoulos, & Ignatow, 2016;Sanford, Martínez, & Weitzer, 2016;Sobel, 2016). Problematically, however, the 'master' narrative of HT (Snajdr, 2013; see also Wilson & O'Brien, 2016), or the version of the story of human trafficking that has become the new normal (Wylie, 2016), is full of, and based on, unreliable statistics, maps, and visual images, and selective, binary, and simplified representations (ibid.).…”

“…In media reporting and legislation, structural causes that leave people vulnerable to being trafficked as well as smuggled are systematically ignored (Coghlan & Wylie, 2011;Johnston et al, 2015;O'Brien, 2016;Piper et al, 2015;Sanford et al, 2016;Sharma, 2005;Steele, 2015;Szörényi & Eate, 2014;Weitzer, 2007;Wilson & O'Brien, 2016). Wilson and O'Brien (2016, pp.…”

“…The trafficker, in the meanwhile, is painted as 'big and bad', a shadowy, mysterious, powerful figure, often male (De Shalit et al, 2014;de Villiers, 2016;Hua & Nigorizawa, 2010;Lobasz, 2009;Moore & Goldberg, 2015;O'Brien, 2016;Pajnik, 2010;Plambech, 2016;Sanford et al, 2016;Sobel, 2016;Wilson & O'Brien, 2016;Yick, 2010), with generally no mention of whether the victim and trafficker had any prior relation. The offender is simply established as the polar opposite of the victim (Szörényi & Eate, 2014), even though in reality, this distinction may be unclear.…”

“…The stereotypical global victim of trafficking is '[a] young, naïve woman who seeks a better life away from her rural home by answering an advertisement to become a waitress or a nanny and then ends up a sex slave, repeatedly raped, brutalised, and resold to other mafia pimps' (Lobasz, 2009, p. 340): she is female (Alvarez & Alessi, 2012;Andrijasevic & Mai, 2016;Columb, 2015;De Shalit et al, 2014;de Villiers, 2016;Dijk, 2013;Duong, 2014;Farrell & Fahy, 2009;Hall, 2015;Johnston, Friedman, & Sobel, 2015;Lobasz, 2009;O'Brien, 2016;Pajnik, 2010;Plambech, 2016;Russell, 2014;Sanchez, 2016;Sanford et al, 2016;Sharma, 2005;Small, 2012;Sobel, 2016;Szörényi & Eate, 2014;Wilson & O'Brien, 2016;Yick, 2010), young (Andrijasevic & Mai, 2016;de Villiers, 2016;Dijk, 2013;Farrell & Fahy, 2009;Hall, 2015;Hua & Nigorizawa, 2010;Johnston et al, 2015;Kara, 2010;Lobasz, 2009;O'Brien, 2016;Sanchez, 2016;Sanford et al, 2016;Small, 2012;Szörényi & Eate, 2014;Wilson & O'Brien, 2016;Yick, 2010), and unwilling to per...…”

“…Alternatively, children may be identified as victims (Alvarez & Alessi, 2012;Johnston et al, 2015;Plambech, 2016;Sanford et al, 2016;Sharma, 2005;Sobel, 2014;Wilson & O'Brien, 2016); they too are portrayed as weak/vulnerable, and generally presumed blameless/trafficked against their will. Further to being common in news media and pop culture, these stereotypes are also shared by policy makers and the public (Buckley, 2009;Dando et al, 2016;Gould, 2010;Musto, 2009).…”